Ferraris Made in India

Teams of engineers and specialists from Tata Consultancy will assist in the development of a Formula 1 racing car engine, beginning next season.

The first group of Tata's engineers has already reached Maranello, Ferrari's headquarters, to start work on the project. Tata Consultancy will provide software and various automation services for Ferrari.

The deal with Ferrari will help Tata raise its profile in Europe, he said, especially at a time when several orders from European companies are in the pipeline.

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Smart money: IBM has signed a 7-year, $970 million contract with British bank Lloyds to supply it with internet telephony and data services.

"The implementation, which includes almost 70,000 voice over IP telephones, is one of the largest ever in Europe and will reduce Lloyds's network costs," IBM (IBM) said in an e-mailed statement.

VOIP is a technology to deliver telephony services over a standard internet connection, reducing the need to install and maintain two separate networks, one for voice and one for data communications. IBM will also act as the strategic technology partner to the bank.

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Orange revolution: Orange unveiled its 3G mobile phones in a long-delayed commercial launch, with seven new handset models aimed at its key French market and at least four at Britain in time for Christmas.

Orange, a unit of France Telecom that has spent more than 7 billion euros ($9.4 billion) on licenses for high-speed 3G services in Britain and France, said it was targeting more than 10,000 3G customers in France by year-end and 1.5 million to 2 million in Britain by 2007.

Orange is the last operator in the Freemove alliance – which includes Germany's T-Mobile, Spain's Telefonica Moviles and Italy's TIM – to bring 3G phones to home markets. Market leader Vodafone (VOD) launched its comprehensive 3G service last month, with 10 handset models across 13 markets.

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Circuits are down: Circuit City, the nation's No. 2 electronics retailer, reported that same-store sales declined 4.3 percent in the third quarter, largely because of weak sales of music and movie software.

Same-store sales are sales at stores opened for more than a year and are considered the best indicator of a retailer's performance. International sales helped Circuit City (CC) increase overall sales 3.8 percent.